据彭博社8月12日报道称，五个里海国家就海洋主权权利达成了突破性协议，在经过二十多年的争端之后，为新的油气开采以及管道铺平了道路。

该条约结束了关于里海是海还是湖泊的争论，赋予其特殊的法律地位并澄清每个周边国家的海洋边界。它还允许每个国家只在得到邻国的同意的情况下在近海铺设管道，而不是里海所有国家。

哈萨克斯坦总统纳扎尔巴耶夫周日在沿海城市阿克套（Akuri）说，，“多年的深入工作以今天签署《里海法律地位公约》而告终。”这则消息由罗西亚24电视台播出。五国还签署了贸易和经济关系，运输和打击恐怖主义的协议。

自苏联解体以来，阿塞拜疆，伊朗，哈萨克斯坦，俄罗斯和土库曼斯坦试图界定里海的法律地位，以便为新的钻探和管道划分水域及其自然资源。美国能源情报署在2013年估计，领土争端导致了至少20桶石油和超过240万亿立方英尺天然气的勘探受阻。

徐蕾 摘译自 彭博社

Caspian Sea breakthrough treaty set to boost oil, pipeline plans

Five Caspian Sea states reached a breakthrough agreement on sovereign rights to the sea, paving the way

for new oil and gas extraction -- and pipelines -- after more than two decades of disputes.

The treaty ends a spat over whether the Caspian is a sea or a lake, granting it special legal status

and clarifying the maritime boundaries of each surrounding country. It also allows each to lay

pipelines offshore with consent only from the neighboring states affected, rather than from all Caspian

Sea nations.

“Many years of thorough work have culminated today in the signing of the Convention on the Legal

Status of the Caspian Sea,” Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Sunday in the coastal city

of Aktau, as broadcast by Rossiya 24 television. The five states also signed agreements on trade and

economic ties, transportation and fighting terrorism.

Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan have tried to define the Caspian Sea’s legal

status since the collapse of the Soviet Union, in order to divide up the waters and its natural

resources for new drilling and pipelines. The territorial disputes have prevented the exploration of at

least 20 Bbbl of oil and more than 240 Tcf of gas, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated in 2013.